The present invention relates to a seat belt system for a vehicle, more particularly, a seat belt system for a vehicle equipped with a double door structure.
Conventionally, a double door structure is well known as disclosed in Japanese patent publication No. H8-142680. The conventional structure includes a lock pillar extending vertically in the middle portion of a rear opening which is opened and closed by a left-side door and a right-side door in a double door configuration.
Such a double door structure may be provided for an ingress and egress opening on the side of a vehicle. In such a double door structure as described above, a center-pillar extends vertically in the middle portion of the ingress and egress opening, which is beneficial to the rigidity of the vehicle body, but is disadvantageous to the openness of the opening. To enhance the openness, a center-pillar-less structure, i.e. a structure without the center-pillar, is preferable.
As noted a double door structure combined with the center-pillar-less body as described above is preferred; however, in the case where a seat belt system is so configured that its belt webbing extends from the rear door to the passenger compartment, an extended length of the belt webbing spans between the frontal portion of the rear door and the lower portion of the door opening of the body. This impedes ingress and egress for rear passengers.
Meanwhile, Japanese patent publication No. S63-130450 discloses a seat belt system, which is so configured that a belt webbing of the seat belt system for the front-seat passenger extends from the inside of the rear door to a front seat. The front door and the rear door combined with the seat belt system disclosed in the patent publication referred to above are not of a double door structure, in that the rear door is swingable about its frontal portion and the belt webbing is located in the vicinity of the pivotal axis of the rear door, causing no difficulties for the rear door to open. However, if such a seat belt system were to be used in the double door structure referred to hereinabove, the same problem as described above still disadvantageously remains.
In view of the problems referred to above, an object of the present invention is to provide a seat belt system for a vehicle which achieves enhanced convenience of ingress and egress for the passengers with the improved appearance of the belt webbing of the seat belt system while the door is open, especially, which attains the openness of the door opening and improved accessibility for the legs of the passenger.
To achieve the above noted object, according to an aspect of the present invention, a seat belt system for a vehicle, for restraining the passenger in a seat disposed in a passenger compartment of the vehicle is provided. The vehicle includes an opening formed on at least one side of a vehicular body, and a first door moving between a first state where the first door closes at least a part of the opening and a second state where the first door opens the opening, the seat belt system comprising, a belt webbing, a retractor disposed in the first door, for retracting a proximal end of the belt webbing and a slider to which a distal end of the belt webbing is attached so that the distal end of the belt webbing is allowed to slide along a lower edge of the opening between a forward position and a rearward position. Preferably, the distal end of the belt webbing may be located at the rearward position when the first door is in the second state, and located at the forward position when the first door is in the first state.
Accordingly, the distal end portion of the belt webbing slides rearwardly along the lower edge of the opening with the opening of the door, which enhances the convenience of ingress and egress for the passengers with the improved appearance of the belt webbing when the first door is open. Particularly, the present invention attains the openness of the opening and improved accessibility for the legs of the passenger entering or exiting the vehicle.
Preferably, the vehicle may include the first door swingably supported on the vehicle body at its trailing edge via a hinge and a second door swingably supported on the vehicle body at its leading edge via a hinge which cooperatively close the opening, thereby providing a continuously formed single opening.
Accordingly, the first door and the second door constitute a double door configuration without a center-pillar, which results in a larger door opening for efficient use and enhanced openness of the opening.
Preferably, the sliding mechanism may comprise a guide member disposed along the lower edge of the opening, and a slider secured to the distal end of the belt webbing and fitted onto the guide member so as to be slidable between a forward portion and a rearward portion of the guide member. More preferably, the vehicular body may include a kick-up portion stepped upwardly on which the rear seat is disposed, and the rearward portion of the guide member may be disposed laterally adjacent to the rear seat on the kick-up portion.
Accordingly, the distal end of the belt webbing slides along the lower edge of the opening according to the movement of the first door with the aid of the guide member, which ensures the sliding of the distal end of the belt webbing. Additionally, the distal end of the belt webbing slides up to the vicinity of the rear seat, or slides to a further rearward position when the first door is opened, which achieves improved convenience of ingress and egress for rear passengers.